Considering Property Ownership

• Author: Alan R. Romero
• Profession: Professor of law and Director of the Rural Law Center at the University of Wyoming College of Law
• Pages: 23-34

Chapter 3

Considering Property Ownership

In This Chapter

▶ Understanding what title is

▶ Considering ways to get title

▶ Introducing how ownership may be divided over time

▶ Looking at how ownership may be shared

A

person who has legal ownership rights in a thing has title to that thing.

This chapter explains what title is and considers the ways to get title.

More than one person can have an ownership interest in the same property

at the same time. This can happen two ways: First, two or more people can

own interests (called estates) that entitle one person to possess the property

in the present and for some defined time into the future, then entitle another

person to take possession after her, and so on. Second, two or more people

can own an estate together (called concurrent ownership). That means they

both have the right to possess the property in the present. This chapter

describes both estates and concurrent ownership.

Defining Title

Title to real property means ownership of the property. You may think of title

as a legal document representing ownership, like title to a car. But title to

real property isn’t represented by a document. Title to real property is a legal

status. If you’re the legal owner of real property, you own the title.

People rarely own perfect, complete title to real property. As Chapters 15

and 16 discuss, almost all real property titles are subject to various interests

belonging to other people. Typically the owner’s interest in real property is

subject to things like the following:

✓ Covenants: A restrictive covenant gives up some of the owner’s right to

use and enjoy property. A covenant is a promise that the owner (or the

owner’s predecessor in title) makes to someone else about how she’ll

use the real property. The owner still owns the property, but she can’t